Tarsis was a Russian a writer, literary critic, and translator. He was highly critical of the communist regime. He was stripped of his Soviet citizenship in 1966 (though this decision was revoked in 1990). Valery was born in Kiev, went to school there and then to Rostov-on-Don University. In the twenties he published some short stories but his main focus was on translations of Western writers into Russian. He translated over thirty books while working for a publishing house (until 1937) as a specialist in Western literature. During World War II Tarsis was twice severely wounded. Once a writer and editor in good official standing, Tarsis grew disillusioned with Communism in the 1950s. The publication abroad of his scathing 1962 novel 'The Bluebottle' earned him an eight-month stay in a Soviet mental hospital, an experience he described in his autobiographical novel 'Ward 7'.